cause it is a most complex subject, and will scarcely admit of one.

As to its form, Poetry may be defined to be metrical composition, or versified language; and as to the subject-matter and its treatment, poetry differs from ordinary prose, in that it is the language of the imagination and of true sentiment. As contrasted

ποιειν,

with Poetry, prose would imply the common language of men, untrammelled by poetical measure and rhyme, in which the imagination does not play so prominent a part. But from what has just been said, it is evident that a simple definition will not properly limit the meaning of Poetry. Nor, unfortunately, are we aided in our search by the derivation of the word. It is derived from the Greek, to do, or make, and hence the roinτns, or poet, was a maker: a maker of what? Many persons have thought that they found in this derivation the recognition of the creative power of the poet's imagination; but in this they have been mistaken. In the earliest Grecian periods, the bard made and sung his own verses, and was called aodos, the singer; but when, owing to the popularity of this early poetry, the two functions were separated; when one man made and the other sang the ballads and the epics, the singer was as before the aoidos, and the maker was called roinns, the poet, and the combined art of maker and singer was denominated Poetry.

- The due rhetorical order in which to consider Poetry would be, first, as to its form, that is, the character and kinds of versification, and the whole subject of poetical prosody; and, second, the domain of Poetry, as to its subjects, its thoughts, and its dealings with the imagination and the heart. But such considerations would require a volume to themselves.

The first of these belongs justly to the science and art of Grammar, and need not here be discussed. We shall premise our consideration of the divisions of poetry with a few words concerning the second, viz. : poetry, as to its essence, and the materials with which. it works. And here we state that Poetry, as an art, must be distinguished from that poetic feeling inherent in so many minds, but for the utterance of which so few are gifted with power. The power to appreciate and enjoy poetry has often been mistaken for the power to express it.

This power of utterance enables the poet to express this inherent passion for beauty and grandeur, for truth and power, with which many minds are gifted; and in the accomplishment of these glorious ends to subsidize the Imagination and the Fancy, and to choose, adapt, and modulate language, and all this according to the principle of variety in uniformity.

The objects of poetry are to please and to refine the human mind, and to expand the affections of the human heart, making the whole being glow with a

new enjoyment; and to this end it embodies nature and art; and passing beyond the region of either, it creates new worlds of Fancy, and new beings as their fitting denizens.

Poetry has been classed with Painting and Music; and while it has much in common with both, it is greater than either; for it transforms both to its own

uses.

Painting depicts only to the eye; poetry paints to the mind music reaches only the ear; poetry, often adopting the accompaniment of music, and yet not absolutely needing its aid, has a power to make harmony in the soul, to attune the intellectual powers to tones of which the music of the ear is entirely incapable.

Poetry, like the beautiful tinted light passing through storied windows," throws its glories upon the common things of life, and makes them radiant and lovely; as upon Keats's kneeling maiden :—

"Rose blooms fell on her hands together prest,

And on her silver cross soft amethyst,

And on her hair a glory like a saint;

She seemed a splendid angel newly drest,
Save wings, for heaven."

And if such, in general, be the sphere and power of poetry, what is it to be a poet? To be a poet im plies several rare qualities, and a rarer combination

of them. Accurate observation of human life, its essence, its aims, its hopes, and its faith; and faithful descriptions of what he sees in all the realms of thought. It also implies to be gifted with a sensibility which is keenly alive to the beautiful and the sublime in what he sees and makes the subject of his

verse.

Imagination and Fancy he must possess, to create and combine.

Reflection he must have as a habit, by which the regions of the Imagination are made familiar, and duly peopled with ideal forms of fitting character and instinct with life, and not with grotesque images; and a rare judgment which will so use these other faculties, and so curb any one of them in its unruly moods as to assure symmetry and just proportion. And yet what diversity do we find among the poets themselves, by reason of the unequal distribution of these gifts, and the undue predominance of one to the detriment of others! Thus are formed different schools of poetry, and much controversy as to the nature of the art itself.

(33.) Different Kinds of Poetry.

Poetry has been, for convenient arrangement, divided into several forms, or classes, according to the materials used, and the manner of their setting forth.

They may all be included under the following classes: EPIC, LYRIC, PASTORAL, DRAMATIC, DIDACTIC, and SATIRIC Poetry. This, it will be observed, is a convenient rather than a logical and exact arrangement, since the different kinds evidently overlap each other; the Drama may be satiric, and the Epic may set forth truth in a didactic manner; but for convenience the division is sufficient and useful.

(34.) Epic Poetry.

The derivation of this word is from the verb л, (obsolete in the present tense,) which meant to speak : thus nos meant primarily a word; then a speech, and, by an easy movement, a narration.

Such, then, is the general signification of Epic poetry; it is narrative poetry, in which some principal personage is introduced as the hero, and the stirring events of his life and career are narrated, with all the accessories necessary to complete the story.

The Epic is subdivided into the Heroic, which has been called the Epic Proper; the Poetic Romance; the Tale in verse; the Mock Heroic; in all which the principle of narration is employed.

From the earliest times the heroic or epic proper has been, in general, founded on history, and narrates the historic deeds of great men. But if earthly